Two of Charles Darwin's notebooks that had been missing from the Cambridge University Library for 20 years were returned last month.
AYESHA RASCOE is the host.
The two historic notebooks that once belonged to Charles Darwin disappeared from the Cambridge University Library over two decades ago.
The theory of evolution by natural selection is the most important theory in the Earth environmental and life sciences. The place where Darwin works out the evidence for that theory is in the notebooks.
James Secord looked at the notebooks before they went missing. He is a retired history of science professor at Cambridge and directs the library's Darwin Correspondence Project, a publicly available collection of all of Darwin's letters. The notebooks were thought to have been lost. They were likely stolen after a widespread search. Cambridge University librarians spearheaded an appeal to the public to recover them.
If anyone knows of the location of the notebooks, I would ask them to get in touch. Please help.
Nothing happened for a long time after that. In March of this year...
There was a small pink gift bag in the office when the librarian came in. She opened it. There was a note inside. Happy Easter with a kiss.
The missing notebooks are covered in plastic wrap.
The pink bag was a crime scene, so she couldn't open them immediately. The police were working out what happened.
The police investigation is open, but they let a team at the library look at the notebooks to make sure they were real. Since he handled the books before the disappearance, Secord was included in that team. The paper, ink, and other clues were analyzed by other technical experts.
Hundreds of pages would be hard to forge completely. You cannot buy a notebook from 1836 at your local stationery store.
The notebooks were in good condition.
Everyone is thrilled that they are back.
Darwin had other notebooks, but these two are important because they show him beginning his research in a concentrated way. Before the notebooks disappeared, there were scans and transcripts of them. He thinks the physical books offer something different, a reminder that Darwin was a real person who carried physical objects with him as a tool for his thinking.
They can help people connect with Darwin's theory and the process he goes through while doing his research. That really is useful.
The notebooks will be shown in an exhibition of Darwin's manuscripts and papers in July.
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